Governor Approves Fund Sweeps - Ag is Impacted

Last week Governor Blagojevich signed SB 790 into law.  This law created the "Budget Relief Fund" and requires the State Comptroller and the State Treasurer to transfer money from over 100 special funds into the Budget Relief Fund.  Several agricultural funds were swept including $250,000 from the Fertilizer Control Fund and $500,000 from the Pesticide Control Fund.  Inspection fees paid by our industry contribute to the money in these two funds, which helps pay for the administration of the fertilizer and pesticide inspection programs.  IFCA appreciates the efforts of legislators like Senator Frank Watson (R-Greenville) whose office made a special call to IFCA to let us know that he would be fighting to remove the agricultural funds from the sweeps list.  In the end there was not enough overall support to spare the IDA funds but we appreciate Senator Watson's efforts on our behalf.  Many other industries are greatly impacted by the fund sweeps; to see a list of all the funds that were swept to the tune of $221,250,000, click here http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=095-1000&print=true&write=